That was my first guess, when I first saw Vegas Pro advertised and released. Seemed like they were trying for something "Hip" that everyone could relate to. Everytime I recommend Vegas to a friend I always get that same question, "why is it called Vegas?", "Is it a Video Poker Software?"....I guess they're marketing team didn't think of that scenario, when trying to be hip. Now maybe the better question is "Why the name ACID?" When I say to people, "Yeah I use acid to do a lot of my music creation..." They usually look at me really strange and say..."Yeah, I bet you do." And if you've ever seen the magazine adds for ACID, it seems like that's what they're trying to correlate it with, with the guy looking all crazy and such. It definitely doesn't correlate with ACID JAZZ, ACID ROCK, styles of music, if that's what they're really trying to achieve.

I could imagine though, if you're doing ACID in VEGAS, then the lights would look extra pretty and sparkly.

:-)~

I wonder if the peculiar name actually does hinder the adoption of Vegas. How could it possibly help to be named after a city? Actually, it sounds like the code name of a software before it is actually released.

Sound Forge is a great name...good imagery. Acid is catchy, if not descriptive.
Vegas...nah. I would be interested in hearing how it came to be called this, but it can't be good from a branding perspective. Can it?

hey there
i really wish they would change the name, it is sooooo cheezy... just like Las Vegas. The worst thing about the name is that Vegas in Nevada is known for bright lights, plastic, empty, vacuous, lacking in any substance... it even beats Speed Razor in the cheezy name department.

i would strongly vote for a change of names to something a little more professional sounding... like ANYTHING ELSE!

mark

Yea right, doodaa sounds so professional. LOL!

Seriously, from a marketing standpoint I think Vegas Video works. Competiting products have rather mundane names. What comes to mind when you think of Vegas? For me a good time, ya sure a little bold, brash, over the top. Most of all FUN!

From the retail side I think a box with Vegas on it has a better chance of getting picked up then some of the other names. Getting people to pick up the box is half the battle in the retail stores where space is at a premium. I would me more inclined to pick up a box with a more flashy name and bright colors. Yellow/orange is a good choice if for no other reason it is little used for software packaging, so it stands out. Notable exception the Norton line, which sells like hotcakes.

I first noticed Video Factory because it too had a yellow box and the Sonic Foundry name. That got my attention. :-)

Yeah, I originally suggested "XXX-BOX Video Studio", with some large exposed breasts on the cover of the box with a large bright green light behind them, which would definitely grab your attention as you walked through the throves of other software. And everyone on the internet already knows that SEX sells, but those SOB's at Microsoft took my idea and shortened the title and now you see "X-BOX" at every damn taco bell across the nation, with the breasts now hiding behind the black curtain, just waiting to burst out at ya.

:-)

Bill Gates....damn that guy for taking my ideas.

Wouldn't be "politically correct" to have some physically well endowed female on the box... unless half the boxes had Mel Gibson or maybe Brad Pitt in some equally suggestive pose to attrack the ladies.

As long as they went with Vegas theme, they could have had Rodney Dangerfield, maybe.

Appeal
Hey, I bought the package . . . found it on the web . . . was intrigued by the features listed. Even now, having perused these boards, I can't think of the name of Ulead's product. I own Pinnacle's Video Director 200, Studio 400, Studio DV, Studio7 (add it up, quite a trip, no?). Their company name has certain brand value in my mind (so does the SF name IMHO).

MGI's Videowave came pre-loaded with my last PC, so, I own that, too. The package included some nice special effects, but, the interface was far to clunky to hold my interest.

I think the name VegasVideo sort of trips off the tongue . . . has a certain ring to it . . . is easy to remember . . . frankly, I like that name.

It has a lot more appeal to me than Premiere (although the name Adobe has sort of ingrained itself in my mind as a quality producer of software . . . I own Pagemaker, albeit as a result of graduating up the Aldus upgrade path). But the Premiere name carries no association (for me, anyway) with video like the name VegasVideo does.

For that matter, Studio 7 could be an audio package or photo editing package as easily as a video editing package.

Not to buck the majority of posters on this thread, but, I think the VegasVideo name works perfectly well (except it doesn't begin to do justice to the audio capability of the package).

The name caught my eye to the extent that I kept an eye out for the package and finally purchased it. What I know for certain is that this is one fantastically capable video/audio editing product. I always found the interface more to my liking than the Pinnacle mouse-dependant, pop-up dialog design, and, with version 3.0, all the little buggies that used to send me retreating to S7 to finish a project edited in VV have been "Raid-Sprayed." Since receiving my copy of 3.0, S7 resides silent and unused on my HD.

I certainly respect Pinnacle, and S7 is a most capable product . . . but, for me, VV30 beats S7 hands down for actually getting work completed.

I apologize if I've wandered too far off topic, here, as I know this thread is about the name, not the product.

I, personally, think the name is fine. A more important issue (if I were involved in sorting these things out for SF) is where SF intends to target this great product.

Will it be marketed as a mid to high end product for the prosumer, a bargain for the pro (don't know what goodies real pros get into . . . my nephew does this for a living . . . shoots with a Sony BetaCam and edits on a Mac-driven Avid system . . . I bet I can rival him with my editing capabilities, although I probably fall short on the front (light-gathering) end, and on the back (output) end.

I can't imagine that his Avid system is more efficient at the editing process . . . I'm sure plenty of you are more qualified to comment on this than I.

My only hope is that SF, whatever their present corporate shape, continues to thrive, continues to employ the sort of talent that conceived of VV and systematically worked to develop that concept into what we now know as Version 3.0 so that I may continue to anticipate further enhancements to keep this lowly amateur on the leading edge of this video editing thing.

Caruso

VIDEO FORGE!
Many people indentify Sound Forge with professional digital audio editing. Sonic Foundry could use that name recognition for selling Video Forge. Video Forge would be an extension of the professional editing suite of SF products in the video editing field. This would be a logical extension of the "Forge" brand name that people, novice and pro, could indentify with. In my other life, I should have been a marketing guru. Sometimes, it is just staring you in the face, waiting for you to open your eyes to recognize it.
That's it, "Video Forge". It even rolls off the tongue.
"Video Forge"
"Video Forge"
"Video Forge"
Do you want the best solution in digital audio editing?
SOUND FORGE
Do you want the best solution for digital video?
VIDEO FORGE
Sounds like a match made in heaven!

Billy Buck

VIDEO FORGE is the perfect extension(upgrade) from VIDEO FACTORY. Where are the SF marketing guys? We need a new marketing campaign. We should be selling these babies like hotcakes now!

Forget Vegas Video, it is VIDEO FORGE all the way baby!
It's a natural fit.

Billy Buck

.....the next video revolution......like the hammer and anvil of old,... Sound and Video Forge are the essential audio-visual tools... for creating your very own works of art.

Your next masterpeice, compliments of:

SOUND & VIDEO FORGE
When you want the right tools to do the best job

SOUND & VIDEO FORGE
Blazing a new trail in Digital Audio and Video Editing


Billy Buck

Quit Stroking yourself so hard. Vegas Video is a multitrack SOUND editor also....not just VIDEO. I use it primarily for multi-track recording, editing, and a mixing tool. If I would had seen a box called Video Forge, I would have over looked it totally....just like I over looked Video Factory. The only way I knew that Vegas Video was an audio piece of software was because I owned VEGAS PRO, prior to this, which had NO VIDEO features.

P.S. Who's the person asking me to be politically correct anyhow in that previous post? Politically correct is for pussies who don't have the balls to speak their mind and make a clear stance on their own opinion. "You can make SOME of the people happy SOME of the time, but you can't make ALL the people happy ALL of the time." Look at Howard Stern, he's as politically incorrect as they come, but how's his ratings? I would have to say higher than any other national DJ sindicated broadcast. Fuck that political correctness, give me my well endowed box cover...trust me, it will catch the eye of women also. Most women that I know happen to like large breasts...LOL.

Still Politically incorrect,
Rednroll

I use it primarily for multi-track recording, editing, and a mixing tool. If I would had seen a box called Video Forge, I would have over looked it totally....

ahem...that is why you would have available "Audio Forge" for the audio only purists, like we now have Vegas Audio. Why did you get Vegas Video if all you needed are the audio features.

Sound Forge
Audio Forge
Video Forge

I mean it can't get much simpler than that. Vegas just sounds cheezy to me, with an identity crises. The name of the game is marketing, an area in which, Vegas, unfortunately, is surely lacking. Why isn't an excellent software product like Vegas Video more popular than it is? I would hate to see it get to the point where we find Vegas Video in Best Buy's @ $69.95 in order to spur sales.

Billy Buck

Billy Buck, kindly share your credentials in marketing. I'm sure we all would be much impressed considering you're such the expert... or pretrend to be. :-)

Actually, it sounds like the code name of a software before it is actually released.
>

'I would hate to see it get to the point where we find Vegas Video in Best Buy's @ $69.95 in order to spur sales. '

I, frankly, can't see what how much they sell it for or where customers can buy it has anything at all to do with the intrinsic value of the product as a video/audio editing tool.

Competent Word processing tools have become readily available and affordable to any and all, yet the creativity of the true wordsmith remains untarnished.

Would that SF (whatever they choose to call their product) discover (if they haven't already) and maintain an appropriate balance between all costs associated with bringing their fine products to market and the need to generated margins derived from sales revenue so that they remain healthy and focused, and continue to innovate and improve their products, so that I can still afford to indulge myself by purchasing/using their software.

Caruso

do you really think Sonic Foundry would consider changing the names of the products? i think that would be a rather stupid move for the company, especially since the increasing popularity over the last year. i have never even thought about the name vegas. dont think it is cheesy, cool, or anything else it is a name, a name that every one knows it as. i think video forge sounds cheesy!! :) sorry